Throughout the 18th century, by far the most North American slaves lived
in Virginia or Maryland .But the highest proportion of enslaved
workers lived in South Carolina, where Africans began outnumbering Europeans
as early as 1708. By 1750 this black majority constituted more than 60 percent
of the colonys population. Almost all had arrived through Charleston
(Jones p. 135). Many of these West African slaves were from the Gambia River
region and brought with them the knowledge and skills of rice cultivation; because
of their know-how, rice became South Carolinas staple crop.

Outnumbered by their enslaved workers, South Carolinas landowners
passed strict Negro Acts patterned after those of the Caribbean. Legislation
prohibited slaves from carrying guns, meeting in groups, raising livestock,
or traveling without a pass . Everywhere, patrols enforced the regulations
with brutal severity. [In the face of these restrictions] in South Carolina
and elsewhere, enslaved African Americans pushed against the narrow boundaries
of their lives . and used every possible means to negotiate slivers of
freedom. (Jones p. 135).

In the early 18th century they were two major waves of slave uprisings and
revolts across the American colonies, including plots for uprisings that were
discovered before they could be carried out. See pages 135 and 136 for descriptions
of planned revolts in Louisiana, South Carolina, and New York.

The largest slave uprising in colonial North America was the Stono Rebellion
outside of Charleston. Several factors may have sparked the rebellion

(a) by 1739 blacks outnumbered whites in South Carolina 2 to 1

(b) working conditions & slave restrictions had worsened steadily as rice
production increased and the importation of enslaved workers increased

(d) in 1739, right before the rebellion erupted, word had spread that England
and Spain were at war (this was part of the Seven Years War)

Early on a Sunday morning in 1739 a band of 20 slaves (from a work crew on
the Stono River) broke into a local store to seize weapons. Armed, these men
marched south, burning selected plantations, executing selected whites, and
gathering about fifty more slave recruits. (These men did not kill indiscriminately
 for example, a white slave-owning innkeeper was spared because he was
known to be kind  in another case, slaves hid their master from the rebels).
On their way to Florida, the rebel slaves were halted by armed white colonists
who killed about half of the slave rebels. The other half who managed to flee
were tracked down during the next six months by Indians hired by the white colonists
and executed (one man remained at large for 3 years). Another Negro Act
was quickly finalized and approved after rebellion. No longer would slaves be
allowed to grow their own food, assemble in groups, earn their own money, or
learn to read. Some of these restrictions had been in effect before, but had
not been strictly enforced. The fear that the Stono Rebellion inspired in white
colonists led to increasingly repressive slave restrictions throughout the South.